Vindicated

A/N: I don't know if this chapter works, so let me know what you think. It's always helful.


"Hey girl, you've got a smart way
About you that makes me wish that I was smart enough for you.

Hey girl, you've got a fine laugh
And I think that I can get used to that
And you're already used to laughing at me

Well, So what if your friends think I'm crazy,
I wasn't trying to impress those girls anyway
They're all theory, no action and
Where I'm from we live like it's the latest attraction

Hey girl, you've got a short fuse
And I've got designs on lighting you up
And setting you off, and watching you burn for me.”

-Dashboard Confessional, “Hey Girl”


Buffy closed her eyes and inhaled a deep breath through her nose. ‘There it is.’

This was the third time that she’d had to stop because she’d lost Faith’s scent. She wasn’t sure if the younger girl had been being tricky with her travels on purpose or if it was just a coincidence, but following her trail was not as easy as it should have been.

But then nothing about this night had been easy. Coming back to Sunnydale, seeing Xander and Cordelia at the Bronze, meeting the new slayer, finding out about Kakistos, getting into a huge fight with Spike, all of it had been a pain in her ass. ********

It hadn’t taken Buffy more than a few minutes to make the connection between Faith and Kakistos. She knew it was no coincidence that they simultaneously arrived in Sunnydale. And she wasn’t naïve enough to believe that just because she wasn’t the one Kakistos was after that it meant she was off the hook.

If Kakistos killed the slayer and decided to stay in town then he would become a potential threat to her family. He would most likely take the place as the new Master of Sunnydale, and want to form an alliance with every strong blooded demon. And since members of her family didn’t play so well with others they would of course decline such an offer. And it goes without saying that demons have an ‘if you’re not with me then you’re against me’ attitude, so the effects of their refusal would not be of the good.

As for Faith she was already a potential threat. She was the only living person who knew that she was in Sunnydale, and she was the slayer. If Faith went looking for her, like she knew she would, and happened to meet her old gang in the process then it would only be a matter of time before they found out about Spike and Dru and her new vampire status. Which was not something that she wanted until she at least had a chance to get situated, she hadn’t even unpacked yet for fuck sake.

So to avoid all that Buffy came up with a plan. It wasn’t a very well thought out plan and it only took her about two minutes to think up, but it was something. Here’s how it went. Spike would pick up dinner for Dru and go back to the mansion. Buffy would go back to the bronze pick up Faith’s scent, track her down, help her kill Kakistos, and then kill her, all before sunrise.

Spike had a fit, said it was the worst idea he’d ever heard and that if she was going then he was going with her. But of course Buffy knew that wouldn’t work and after twenty minutes of yelling at each other Spike knew it too.

“What’s the first thing I taught you about fighting Buffy?”

“Don’t Die.”

Spike frowned. As important as not dying was that wasn’t the answer he’d been looking for. “Oh, right, well what was the second thing?”

Buffy grinned. “Don’t Die.”

Spike furrowed his brow. “And the third?”

“Learn your opponent’s strength, and make it their weakness.”

Spike smiled and gave a small nod. “That’s the one I was lookin’ for.” His face became serious again. “Don’t forget that, and don’t forget the first two either. I know you don’t need a pep talk. You can do without it, but I’m big brother so I’m gonna give you one anyways. You kill him and then you kill her, and the only thing you think about while you do it is the fight. That’s the only thing that exists. Me your mum don’t matter, not until you come home. Understand?”

Buffy nodded. “Don’t worry Spike. A few hours from now I’ll be walking in the mansion with Kakistos ashes on my hands and warm slayer blood in my veins… I’m a beautiful killer remember?”

Spike laughed, it was what Dru had called her the first time they went hunting together. “That you are, that you are.”

*****

Buffy crossed the street and turned into an alley. It led to a fence behind a building. She jumped the fence and followed Faith’s scent around front until she found herself standing at a door. The scent had come to an end. She She turned and looked around. There was a sign off to the side of the road, it read vacancy in bright red letters. It was a hotel, a cheap hotel on the other side of town.

Buffy sighed. ‘I should’ve guessed, would have saved me the hound dog routine.’

She turned back around and raised her fist to knock on the door but it opened before she had the chance to.

“I guess you really meant it when you said I’d be seein’ ya huh?” Faith smirked and leaned against the doorway.

Buffy was taken aback. Maybe she just hadn’t gotten a good look at her before but Faith was… She shook her head and snapped herself out of her reverie. ‘Bad Buffy, no lusting after the slayer.’

“Yeah, sorry about that. I had a thing, but the thing is no more.”

Faith looked her up and down before settling her eyes back on her face.

Buffy furrowed her brow. ‘Did she just check me out?’

Faith raised her eyebrows. “It’s no big. Stuff comes up in our line of work. So what brings you to the poor side of town?”

Buffy shrugged. “Well we didn’t really get a proper introduction before and I figured since you’re new in town you might have a hard time finding me. Thought I’d be your friendly neighborhood slayer and save you the trouble.”

Faith grinned. “I was just gonna check the high school for ya, but now that you’re here… how did you find me anyways?”

Buffy shoved her hands into her pockets. “Just followed the scent.”

Faith looked at her quizzically. “Huh?”

Buffy laughed. “I took a guess. There are only so many hotels in Sunnydale.”

“Oh, right…ya wanna come in?”

Buffy smiled. She didn’t need an invite to get into a hotel room, but there was still something nice about it. She wasn’t sure why but that simple gesture made the thought of killing her less appealing. “Lead the way.”

Faith stepped aside so Buffy could get in and then closed the door.

Buffy scanned the room. It was a shit hole. The paint on the walls was cracked. The carpet was covered in stains. The TV would flicker with static every few seconds, and from the looks of it the manager hadn’t had the sheets on the bed cleaned in about a decade. It wasn’t a pretty picture. “Nice place.”

Faith looked around and laughed. “Yeah, it’s fit for royalty.”

Buffy ran her fingers over the surface of the dusty dresser next to the TV. “Nah, royalty is to high maintenance for a place like this. But it would probably be fit for a slayer on the run.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Buffy turned and faced her. “Nothing, just that I know what drove you away from your home-which by your accent I’m guessing was Boston-all the way to Southern California.”

Faith folded her arms across her chest. “And what’s that?”

“Cloven guy. Goes by the name Kakistos.”

Faith looked panic stricken at the mention of his name. Buffy walked over to the door and sat down with her back against it. She had a feeling that Faith was in the midst of a fight or flight reaction, so blocking her path out of the room seemed like a good idea in case she chose the latter.

“How do you--what do you know about Kakistos?”

“Maybe you should sit down.” Buffy casually suggested.

Faith ignored the suggestion and started pacing the room like a caged animal.

Buffy shook her head. “Or you could stand, whatever--”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

Buffy frowned. ‘What question… oh right.’ “I know your boy Kakistos is here in town.”

Faith stopped pacing. She glanced at Buffy and then grabbed her bag off the floor and threw it onto the bed.

Buffy sighed. “Faith, what are you doing?”

Faith picked up a few of her clothes and tossed them into her bag. “What does it look like I’m doin’ B? I’m packing.”

Buffy nodded. “Yeah I see that. Why?”

“Because if I don’t leave he’ll… I have to.” She stopped packing and looked at Buffy.u dou don’t know what he’ll do if he finds me… you don’t know what he did...” Her voice was cracking. Buffy could tell that she was fighting back tears and she suddenly found herself caring.

“What did he do?”

Faith hung her head. If Buffy hadn’t been a vampire then she wouldn’t have heard it. Faith’s words came out a shaky whisper. “My watcher, he… there isn’t even a word for what he did to her.”

Faith turned so that her back was to Buffy. She sat down on the bed and buried her face in her hands.

Buffy cocked her head. She could hear Faith crying softly. The girl was trying to hide it, but vampire hearing never failed.

Buffy inhaled a deep un-need breath and lifted her body of the floor. She walked over to Faith and crouched down in front of her. “My watcher, my first watcher Merrick… I watched him die.”

Faith uncovered her face and looked at her.

“I didn’t know him very well, but I remember feeling responsible. Like it was my fault… but it wasn’t.”

Faith dropped her gaze to the floor refusing to meet Buffy’s eyes. “I just left her… I saw what he was doing, what he was going to do to me… and I ran.”

‘Why am I doing this? I’m supposed to kill this girl not console her.’ Buffy sighed. She knew this was a bad idea. If Faith wanted to go then she should let her. Kakistos followed her across the country, she was sure that he would do it again and that would take care of both her potential problems. But looking at Faith sitting there so…

‘Grrr…’ Buffy mentally growled at herself. She was being stupid and she knew it.

“Faith look at me.”

The slayer didn’t move. Buffy pulled the sleeve of her shirt over her hand so that Faith wouldn’t be able to feel how cold her skin was and gently lifted the younger girl's chin forcing her to look at her.

“You did what you had to. The first rule of slaying is don’t die. You did the right thing, you didn’t die. But now you have a choice to make, you can run again or you can stay and fight. Because where ever you go Faith he’s going to follow.”

Faith inhaled a shaky breath. “I’m scared.”

Buffy wiped a few stray tears off the slayers cheeks with her sleeve and then placed her hands on the bed on either side of Faith’s legs. “I know, but I can help. You’re not alone in this. There’s one of him, and two of us. You do the math. We can end this tonight.”

Faith shook her head. “I don’t think I--”

“You can.” Buffy interrupted. “All you have to do is not die. And with me there watching your back,” she grinned, “I don’t think it’ll be that hard.”

Faith smiled. “I didn’t envision you as the cocky type B.”

Buffy smir “Ye “Yeah well based on our encounter earlier I didn’t exactly have you pegged as Ms. Emotional.”

A defiant look came over Faith’s features. “I’m not.”

Buffy raised her eyebrows.

“…usually.”

Buffy tried to hide her smile. She was finding Faith’s badass act to be quite cute. ‘I might as well just shoot myself in the foot right now because I am completely fucking up here.’ She let out a breath of un-needed air, mentally kicking herself in the ass for--what was this caring? Yes, caring about this girl that she had just met, a girl that she was planning on killing. But her resolve to follow through with that plan seemed to be dwindling by the moment.

“So you ready to do this slayer?”

Faith took a deep breath and nodded.

“Alright.” Buffy pushed herself into a standing position. “Lets go.”

Buffy could sense the apprehension that Faith was still feeling as they left the hotel room and headed to the warehouse where that minion had told Spike his Master was staying. But there wasn’t just fear in Faith’s eyes anymore. There something else too, determination. She was ready, Buffy had made her ready.

Somewhere in the background Buffy could hear a voice screaming at her that that wasn’t a good thing. But the more shokedoked at Faith and the more time that passed in her presence the more she had to disagree.

Well maybe she would change her mind after Faith’s inner slayer found out about her inner demon.


“The world lives for the weekends
Well, I'll watch as my weeks bleed right into them
Without a rhyme to divide what is theirs and what is mine

Well, So what if your friends think I'm crazy,
I wasn't trying to impress those girls anyway
They're all theory, no action and
Where I'm from we live like it's the latest attraction

go ogo on, go on, your cruel intentions won't solve your problems
everyone's gotta get bottom bottomed out in the long run
and those are the times you need love”

-Dashboard Confessional, “Hey Girl”


TBC…